The Devil You Know

I honestly went into this not expecting much but it was a pleasant surprise. Heart warming, tragic, emotional and realistic. A story about a man whose just trying to get his life together while battling serious family issues (I won't say anything specific to avoid spoiling it). The trials of humanity, right and wrong vs family.

Premise: The Devil You Know, a crime drama revolving around a black family. Marcus, who has just come out of prison is trying to make his life again with a new job and his family's support. One day, when he hears about a recent crime in news, that could lead to his brother, he chooses to protect him. What he does and how that affects him and his family is the rest of the film's story.

Cinematic Analysis: Calling it a crime thriller might be misleading as there aren't any thrills involved here. The story is mostly focused on family dynamics, the ups and downs, and their daily lives. Heavy on conversations, the film tries to explore the impact a crime can have on people around us, especially our loved ones. It tries to bring us the inner conflicts and emotions they feel when something like this happens.

The film is around 2 hrs long and the screenplay is extremely elongated. Instead of spending so much time on family get-togethers, if the makers would have invested some time to explain the backstory of our lead character, it surely would have helped a lot to connect with him on an emotional level and for a better understanding of the choices he made. The film focuses on things that are less important and never touches on the impactful aspects.

The ending is surprising, never expected it to end this way. Performances are good but character development did have some scope to improve. On technical levels like cinematography, score etc., the film does a fine job.

Conclusion: In finality, The Devil You Know had a potential and impactful plot but the screenplay couldn't bring out our emotions or make us care for any of the characters. It lacks a tighter script and proper execution.

Rating: 5/10

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I'll keep it short. This is a family drama where an extremely close-knit family bonds together to pay for each others sins, while having to balance their morality with their loyalty to each other. The acting from all of the main characters was top-notch. The story was well constructed. I think a lot of people will be displeased by some of the choices of the characters and racial innuendos of the movie, but I felt like I could really relate to this family. You may also find the little news/radio segments throughout the movie to be jarring in just how BAD the acting from the newscasters/announcers are, especially in contrast with just how good the acting is in the rest of the movie.

Wow, what a movie, every scene is totally unexpected, left me wanting to know what will happen next, like when drew shot his two frenemies, and that's when i fell in love with the movie more, great movie. Big ups to the production crew and actors.

My daughter and I watched the movie and it was really good. I loved the turns and twist to the movie line. The only part I hated was the ending. I really thought it should and could have been better. The beginning was really good and I loved how it keep certain parts out and fed into when they did.

I had no dream it was going to be that way. You have to listen and pay attention to what's going on. A great movie and it keeps you in suspense until the end. I will recommend to others but would tell them to keep an open mind. This could be anyone's family and everyone will be in shock because of the togetherness.